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Organised Phonology Data Huli Language [HUI] Southern Highlands Province Trans New Guinea Phylum; East New Guinea Highlands Stock; West-Central (Engan) Family; Huli Subfamily Population census: 70,000 (1981) Major villages: Linguistic work done by: Data checked by: (Information has been checked Jan. 1992 by an expatriate speaker of Huli) Phonemic and Orthographic Inventory   b b d d e e   h i i k  m n o o p r t a a b mb d nd e e g ng h i i k l m n o o p r t A A B Mb D Nd E E G Ng H I I K L M N O O P T,S u u w j u u w y U U W Y Consonants Bilab LabDen Dental Alveo Postalv Retro Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn Glottal Plosive p b t d k  Nasal m n  Trill r Tap/Flap Fricative  h Lateral Fricative Approx Lateral  Approx Ejective Stop Implos /w/ voiced labial-velar approximant /b/ prenasalized bilabial plosive /d/ prenasalized alveolar plosive // prenasalized velar plosive p pola 'sow' b bola 'drill' - babe 'hit! , he will hit' Huli OPD Printed: August 23, 2004 Page 2 b mbola 'frog' r - hambu 'lips' dere 'sore,wound' m magu 'vomit'  lembo 'anger' damene 'relative' tele 'top' w wayali 'winner' k ke 'you are standing' dawa 'cook' erekui 'tired' t te 'story'  ge 'leg' - nogo 'pig' nigi 'nettle' d de 'eye' tede 'flea'  nge 'you've placed it' dangi 'kunai grass' d nde 'and then' dendebi 'delicious'  yari 'cassowary' áyu 'today' n na 'eat' kuni 'bone' h hale 'ear' wahe 'old' Vowels i u e o  There is a set of five nasalixed vowels: /  e  o u / i ira 'tree, wood' u umi 'owl' lamiya 'he told' gula 'bend over' pini 'root' nunu 'down there' hai 'banana'  i 'I, me' e ega 'bird' lamiya 'let us speak' hela 'leave it stand' - ke 'you are standing' hai ha 'smear on'  agi 'what' e gabia 'chop' hela 'push' dagala 'count' kela 'tell a lie' o ola 'call'  dola 'whistle' ga la 'shout out' to ha 'swell up' o dola 'swim' tola 'fill up' Huli OPD Printed: August 23, 2004 Page 3 u u aulai 'plant spec.' nunula 'kiss' kaubi 'bitter' gula 'squeal' tau 'male' i biango 'dog' oe ngoe 'worm' tia 'cuscus' o noaba 'want to eat' e eanogoda 'hang oneself' goa bia 'hollow out' hea 'was hanging' ui kuikui bia 'Huli court' ngui 'nose' i aiya 'mother' taibia 'look for' wai 'plants' ue due la 'retch' e - u duare 'bad' aea 'great grandchild' - /i/ /e/ /i/ /e/ /u/ /oe/ /o/ /ui/ /ue/ /u/ Suprasegmentals (tone, stress, length) Tone is phonemic. There is a contrast between high falling [], mid level, and low rising [] pattern. The functional load of contrastive tone is not very high. í 'you sg.' hále 'ear' ma 'taro' ì 'I, me' hale 'tree spec.' mà 'neck' hàle 'torch' mà 'lets go (pl)' Syllable Patterns V í 'you' a.yu 'today' wae.a la 'echo' VV au 'in this manner' au.he 'dim' CV ge 'leg' nde.la 'betray' da.ngi 'kunai grass' CVV hai 'banana' kau.ndia 'far' a.ba.hai 'maternal uncle' Sequences of VV are always one syllable if they take a single tone pattern. Conventions: Phonological /p t k/ are pronounced aspirated [ p t k ]. /b/ is pronounced voiceless word initially and becomes fricative [ ] between the vowels [ i-i, i-e, i-a, a-a, a-e, o-e]. /d/ is pronounced voiceless word initially, fronted between vowels and palatalized between [i] and word final [a]. Huli OPD Printed: August 23, 2004 Page 4 // is pronounced voiceless word initially and velar fricative [ ] between vowels [ a-a, a-o, a-e, e-a, o-o, o-e, o- a]. /j/ is pronounced with friction between most vowels. /r/ occurs word medially only. // is pronounced fronted [æ] in certain non-stressed syllables before [r] and [j]. Conventions: Orthographic < s > was introduced to the orthography because of loanwords. It is also used to represent /t/ at the beginning of words before [i], since many speakers pronounce it [s] in this position. Tone is marked only on some words, like í 'you' to separate it from i 'I'. Transcription of a recorded passage < Ngodehanda wali agali bihende gubalini timbuniore howa ibu igini mbira hangu henego ngini. Ibuhondo mini mbiraorewi karu ti dinini koha napole haabo holene yu ka.> Bibliography Rule, W.M. 1954. Huli Language. Tentative statement of the Grammar. ___. 1970. Huli language, simple and technical statement of the alphabet and phonology. Unpublished manuscript. SIL: Ukarumpa. Goldman, Lawrence. 1983. Talk never dies: The language of Huli disputes.